Down The Memory Lane
by Mentathial
Summary: A look into what Harry's life could have been had Sirius and Remus been the Secret keepers and Neville the boy who lived. This is something I wrote for my English Language Prep. I don't own Harry Potter or the song Long Live.


Down The Memory Lane

 _I said remember this moment in the back of my mind  
The time we stood with our shaking hands  
The crowds in stands went wild  
We were the Kings and the Queens  
And they read off our names_

Standing there in the run down cemetery, the young man seemed to mix with the shadows, as if he was a part of the cemetery itself, as old as time and place itself. The stars shone on him and the surrounding graves, the new moon sky as dark as the grounds below it and the street lights seemed as far as the star themselves. There was stillness, about the night, almost as if the entire world had stopped and was waiting for the man to move before beginning to rotate again. The man, however, did nothing but stare at the graves in front of him. The graves of his two best friends and possibly the people he had loved the most in the entire world.

As surreal as he felt standing there, he could not help but remember all they had endured together, the fun memories, the fights, the near death experiences and much more that made them what they were, The Marauders. To never be separated by anything lesser than death, Death, that he had seen, many times.

A small hand slid into his larger one and a young woman stood by him, her flaming hair, looking darker than it was in the darkness of the night but he would know her anywhere he went, as long as h spent memorizing her and chasing after her. Slowly she leaned into him and together they left the graves of their best friends behind and walked home, to the son, these men had died protecting. To Harry.

That night, the messy haired man sat next to the crib of his two year old and rocked the baby gently as he began to recount the tales of his school lives, the times he spent with his best friends, his son's Godfathers. His brothers in all but blood.

"Once upon a time Harry, not a long time ago mind you, there were four dashing young men and they were called by all The Marauders. We did not rule over kingdoms but in our hearts we were as brave as any King and your mother she was a princess in every way that mattered. Kind, beautiful, helpful and having the extraordinary talent of being able to see the beauty in others, even when and especially the person could not see it themselves, but she had the temper of dragon too. These young eleven year olds met in school and were oh so famous for their brains, beauty and pranks an they always left the crowds after all their performances whether it be your Uncle Sirius and his pranks, me on the sports pitch or your Uncle Remus and mom in the classes. Sirius was as loud as they come and Peter just as shy and Remus preferred to keep to the shadows, oh yes he did," and his voice trailed off as he continued to tell his son about his friends and for a moment all was well, it was just the two of them and his friends. His memories of happier times, time when they were nervous but not fighting for their lives. For a while, there wasn't a war waging outside or a psychopath ready to murder them. For a while two of his best friends had not been declared dead because they had been missing for oh so long and another had not turned out to be a traitor. For a while all was well.

 _The night you danced like you knew our lives  
Would never be the same  
You held your head like a hero  
On a history book page  
It was the end of a decade  
But the start of an age_

There was not any music but that did not matter to James Potter as he twirled his wife around, both of them laughing. It was hard o be copped up for so long, to stay hidden but it felt like he had to do this and as normal as it the urgency unsettled him. They had said that the Dark Lord had been defeated. By a mere baby. Sad as they were for the demise of their friends, Alice and Frank, a tiny selfish part of James was happy to be free of the terror of the war, of constantly watching his back, of staying hidden for their son's safety and that made him smile as he held Lily. He did not know that that would his last smile for a while.

"It's them Lily! Take Harry and run! I will hold them off," James screamed as the door to their house was blasted open and despite what people would say, he never less heroic, even as he battled for the lives of his family or when he dropped to knees victorious but so alone.

It was the end of a decade of terror, of murder and evil. It was the start of an age of peace. A peace never meant to last.

 _Long live the walls we crashed through  
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you  
I was screaming long live all the magic we made  
And bring on all the pretenders  
One day, we will be remembered_

James smiled as he watched his son make his first friend, Ronald Weasley and how they chatted excitedly about what they would do in school which they would not attend for a while yet. Looking at the laughing boys, arms around each other and watching as his daughter was lifted, giggling, into air by her friend Kevin, both Lily and he recalled the times spent with their best friends. Times spent lazing in the sun, talking about schools and places she had never seen with Sev, about dreams and differences, dancing in orchards and eating cake as he squirmed uncomfortable by the affection her mother was giving him. James recalled jumping into lakes and moonlit runs, of hiding in corridors and rolling on the floor in peals of laughter after a successful prank and the perfect silence of companionship. Suddenly the bright sunlit sky and the light glistening off rooftops, the calm and clean road, everything suddenly seemed to be shinning in his eyes until his three year old stretched his arms asking to be picked and Sirius, who had recently been liberated out of the prison camp Death Eaters had him captive in, flung an arm around his shoulders, an easy smile on his face and a cheeky twinkle in his eye, reminding James of a teenage instead of a twenty something man who had gone down in history along with Lily, himself and others, for valiantly fighting the Dark Lord.

If only his eyes were not so haunted….

I said remember this feeling  
I pass the pictures around  
Of all the years that we stood there  
On the side-lines wishing for right now

The Potter Home or the Marauder Cottage as Sirius called it, was a cheerful little place and around the fire in the living room were pictures, a lot of them. Of course, there were pictures of Harry and Angela and their friends or them with their parents or Sirius and an old one of them with Remus. There were even a few pictures of Sirius's wife Katelyn and his daughter Lyra and son Regulus (neither wanted to name their son Remus, after their friend who was still in coma, you cannot insult a memory when the person is still alive, Sirius had said) and many of the Marauder's teenage days and Lily with her friends and two with her sister, their weeding days and one from when they were children and still friends. Even grandparents and grandparents and The Black(Sirius hated it but like the Tonks and the Weaselys, there were a few family members he liked), Potter, Lupin and Evans(Lily had wanted a family tree) trees were there. However, two pictures drew attention the most, one of four happy boys; arms thrown around each other and laughter radiant in their faces and one of a greasy haired kid with a pretty red head. The fat kid in the first picture and the hooked nosed grease ball where not featured anywhere else in the entire house.

James often looked at the pictures of the time before the war and one of the Order of Phoenix, recalling the times when his friends and he had so much wanted to help in the effort, fight for werewolf rights, against blood purists and so much more and then of the time when they fought so hard for the peace that they now had. A peace they had paid for in blood. One that they would have to pay for over and over again.

 _We are the Kings and the Queens  
You traded your baseball cap for a crown  
When they gave us our trophies  
And we held them up for our town  
And the cynics were outraged  
Screaming, "This is absurd!"  
Cause for a moment a band of thieves  
In ripped up jeans got to rule the world._

James eyes no longer widened when an unconscious Remus was taken to a cellar to transform to his alter ago, the wolf called Moony but they did drop like always when the wolf too remained in coma like his best friend. Even the worst pain in the world, could not wake him up.

Eleven year old harry Potter, stood next to his best friends Hermione, Ron, Nev and his sisters Lyra, Angela and their best friend Kevin as they prepared to jump into the trapdoor and then battled the Devil's Snare (Nev got them out before the plant even wrapped around their toes), caught the key( he was not the youngest seeker in a century for nothing), played as chess pieces and then had the potion that would lead them all to defeat Voldemort (Lyra and Angela had the idea to multiply the potion) and finally they stood in front of the Mirror of Erised and saw what they most desired, until the philosopher's stone dropped in Nev's pocket and together they chased away Voldemort( it was mainly Neville but still)until Dumbeldore came.

James recalled making the Marauders Map and becoming animagi. He recalled every experience of his life, going to Hogwarts, meeting the Marauders, Snivellous, Lily, holding Harry, visiting his friends' graves, finding them alive, Remus waking up, the events of his son's school life including immortality granting stones, giant snakes that inspired if looks could kill, because their looks could, flying cars, monster trees( he had had a run in with this many times as a student too but for his son it sure was different) and Voldemort. Oh and Umbridge the pink toad. He recalled the two wars, he had fought and all the Potters, Blacks, Weasleys, Hermione and Neville laughed at the expression on the face of some of the scared twenty eight as they handed Remus an Order of Merlin, First Class, for his help during the war. The first werewolf to do was left un said but everyone knew it and both James and Harry smiled, remembering the hard and easy times that had led to this, the way they had turned from boys to men and from men to what the world called heroes.

Long live the walls we crashed through  
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you  
I was screaming long live all the magic we made  
And bring on all the pretenders  
I'm not afraid

 _Long live all the mountains we moved  
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you  
I was screaming long live that look on your face  
And bring on all the pretenders  
One day, we will be remembered_

 _Hold on to spinning around  
Confetti falls to the ground  
May these memories break our fall_

Watching Harry graduate from the Auror Academy reminded James of his own graduations both from said academy and Hogwarts. Harry had not gone back to Hogwarts but decided to join Professional Qudditch and wing his NEWTs at the same time before joining the Aurors two years later. Despite being unhappy, James knew Lily understood and all the Marauders, their families and their friends clapped as Harry Potter smiled and waved, trying to duck out of the attention and everyone recalled their years at Hogwarts, the fun they had had, the Quidditch matches, the pranks or the adventures, the fights, the TriWizard Tournament and much more. Looking back now, even the sad moments caused smiles and laughter. While the loss of friends had hurt and a war had scared three generations and even hindered a fourth one, they were now healing. The scars now were badges of honour. Forgotten badges of un-wanted valour.

 _Will you take a moment, promise me this  
That you'll stand by me forever  
But if God forbid fate should step in  
And force us into a goodbye  
If you have children some day  
When they point to the pictures  
Please tell them my name  
Tell them how the crowds went wild  
Tell them how I hope they shine_

"Harry this is your Uncle Moony," James remembered telling his five year old son and now watched as said son twirled around with his godson, Teddy Remus Lupin. Life was good but a part of James always waited for it to tumble down like a house of cards.

"We will always be brothers," he recalled telling the other Marauders when they had left Hogwarts and Sirius still laughed at how they had craved Mischief Managed under each of their beds and into the great hall wall. Thankfully, they could not get anymore detentions as the year was over and so was their schooling, otherwise he had no doubt they would have end up serving detention for the rest of their school career.

Years later, a white haired James watched as Harry told his children, sitting next to Ginny Potter, about his adventures at Hogwarts and how those kids made friends and had their own adventures. He himself often sat down with Sirius's grandchildren and told them about their uncle Regulus, as did Sirius and Lily often told the kids about Snape, who had died during the war. James Sirius Potter and Albus Severus Potter, along with Lily Luna, Remus Neville, Percy Theo and Baldwin Harry (named after their great grand dad and dad, a tradition started by James Potter) continued the Potter legacy, while Angela Lucie's kids turned out to be clones of James, the twins Lucy Freya and Susan Fey were always doing some mischief or the other.

As James Potter sat watching his family, extended family, friends, their extended family and friends, all he could do was laugh as everyone told or re-told tales and hope that like the ones before them, the ones after them would also shine and be happy with their lot in life.

"Grandpa! Meet your great grandkids."

Lyra Andromeda Zabini nee Black watched as her daughter Bianca Fey Potter nee Black (named by her godmother Angela Potter) stood with her triplets Blaize Harry Potter who was named according to the Potter family tradition started by Harry of naming kids after their parent's dads and godfathers), Orion James Potter and the only girl in the family Ester Venus Potter. And so, the Black family tradition of naming children after stars carried on.

 _Long live the walls we crashed through  
I had the time of my life, with you  
Long, long live the walls we crashed through  
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you  
And I was screaming long live all the magic we made  
And bring on all the pretenders  
I'm not afraid_

 _Singing, long live all the mountains we moved  
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you  
And long, long live the look on your face  
And bring on all the pretenders  
One day, we will be remembered_

Years passed by as the Potters, Blacks, Lupins, Weasleys and their families lived the eternal life in both the worlds of the living and the dead. In the realm of the dead, they laughed and had fun as they waited for more of their family to arrive, wishing them long lives and greeted their legacy. They watched as each person forged their own path, some wrong, some right and in the world of the living they lived on in stories and folk lore and in history and much much more but they became heroes and people sometimes forgot that they too were human beings once, until a descendant of Fred Weasley, Kyle Alaric Lovegood invented something called Memories Toffee, each of which was different and gave you a look in the life or rather a single memory of a person on a chocolate frog card.

"I made these so that the adventures, the fun, the laughter and the tears of great people remain human, so that we remember them for who they were and not like some Good, so that long live the look on their faces."


End file.
